Printer Supplies

The Office Allsorts team have over 35 years combined experience in supplying printer supplies, ink cartridges and toner cartridges to the UK market. Whether you’re looking for original products from top brands such as HP, Canon, Epson, Lexmark, Brother and Samsung or low cost compatible ink and toner we have a great selection at fantastic prices.

If you need some help finding the correct supplies for your printer our Ink and Toner Finder is here to help. Search using either your printer model number or your cartridge product code.

If you need any assistance please don’t hesitate to give the Allsorts team a call on 0115 9455833.

Buyers Guide

To find the correct cartridges for your printer we have number of methods by which you can search our website.

1. Manufacturers Part Numbers

If you know the manufacturer part number of your ink or toner cartridge please enter it into the search bar at the top of the page. Our website has numerous part numbers and references stored for every cartridge, however if this method doesn’t return the correct items please try method 2 below.

2. Ink and Toner Finder

You can search using our ink and toner finder by either entering the printer model number or the cartridge part number into the appropriate box. The finder will then display all the consumables we have listed for that printer including both original and compatible brands. To use the Ink and Toner Finder simply click on the link below.

If you’ve been unable to find the right consumables by the first two methods then our ink and toner category has been set up to make navigating to the items you want nice and simple. Simply click on the brand of printer you have and then select the type of product you are looking for. For example, if you own a Brother Inkjet printer, click on the Brother logo and then select Brother Inkjet cartridges. You will then be able to scroll through all the Brother Ink cartridges we have and select those suitable for your printer.

4. Call the Office Allsorts Team

If you’ve still not found the right part please contact our friendly and knowledgeable team will be happy to assist. You can call us on 0115 9455833 or you can send over the details of what you require by completing the contact us form which is accessible by clicking on the tab at the top of the page.

Inkjet and Laser Printers Explained

The type of ink, toner or other consumables you need to purchase will vary greatly depending on which type of printer you have. Have you ever wondered why there are so many different types of printer and what the difference is between printing technologies? Here we endeavour to answer your questions or at least make it a little less confusing!

The different types and number of printers available on the market today can be bewildering. From small desktop photo printers to huge office printers that can print, fax, copy, scan and staple the options available to someone looking to make a purchase are certainly plentiful. The easiest way to understand the printer market is by looking at the way they are categorised. Below we will explain what you need know to make purchasing your next printer a breeze.

Single Function or Multifunction (MFP)

The first thing to get to grips with is printer functionality. There was a time, not too many years ago, when printers, scanners, fax machines and photocopiers were all unique single function machines. By this we mean if you wanted to scan documents you purchased a scanner, the only function the scanner would perform was to scan documents and nothing more. This changed with the advent of convergence where printers started to be produced that not only printed but also copied, scan and faxed documents. These new devices are called Multifunctional Printers or MFP’s. MFP’s have the huge advantage of not only housing all four functions in one convenient machine buy they also take up less space. Today single function printers still exist and do tend to be cheaper, however MFP’s are by far the most popular option for most users both in offices and at home.

Inkjet or Laser Printers

Most printers sold for home use are inkjet printers due to their small size, low upfront cost and simple plug and play functionality. Some inkjets start from as little as £40 but you may end of paying many times more than this in replacement ink costs. As a general rule the less you pay up front for the printer the more you pay for inks. Inkjets are nearly always colour and often use individual ink cartridges. This can save money as you only need to replace a cartridge when it runs out. Historically all colours were combined into one cartridge and when one colour ran out the whole cartridge was replaced regardless of what was left of the other colours. Inkjet technology is great at printing photo’s and much better that laser printers, however for text lasers have the edge.

Laser printers are much faster than inkjets both in terms of page per minute and first page delivery. They work by applying ink to a large amount of a page at the same time rather than line by line as inkjets do. Laser printers can be both monochrome (black and white) or full colour.

Laser printers tend to be more expensive to buy than inkjets but there total running cost, when the price of consumables are also taken into account, are much lower. Laser toners will print thousands of pages whereas inkjet cartridges will only print a few hundred.

Home of Office Printers

Home printers are typically fairly small, low priced and designed to be more aesthetically pleasing than office printers. They are built for light usage and will often have a heavy focus on photo printing. Ease of print is now the focus of many manufacturers so WIFI capability as is the ability to print remotely from any paired device. Home printers can be single function of MFP’s, however few multifunction’s designed for home use will have the fax capability.

Office printers are built to print high volumes and to print quickly. They are often used by whole department or office as most can be added to network or workgroup. Generally office printers are far more expensive than home printers but the cost per page of printing is a lot less thanks to the high printing capacity of the consumables. Some common features of office printers include, networking capability, duplex printing, sorting and stapling and the ability to add additional paper trays to increase capacity.

Black and White or Colour

If you print mainly text based documents then a black and white (monochrome) printer may be all that you need. Monochrome printers are normally cheaper to buy than colour and much cheaper to run as they only require one cartridge to be replaced rather than four.

Monochrome printers are generally used in business where they may have one for day to day use. This printer will be linked to the office network for all staff to use. A second colour, printer which has limited availability, may also be used by selected individuals such as the marketing departments.

For home users in makes sense to opt for colour models and make sure when purchasing the total cost of ownership is considered and not just the upfront cost.

For more information on purchasing printers and for independent advice and reviews we suggest the following sites Trusted Reviews, PC Advisor and Which.